Upon Bladed Wings
by KatarnX2B
Summary: Shinji arrives in Tokyo-3 and rufuses to pilot.
1. Chapter 1

012345678911234567892123456789312345678941234567895123456789612345678971  
2  
************************************************  
Title: Upon Bladed Wings  
Author: Jonathan "Katarn" Gaters  
E-mail: KatarnX2B@NetZero.net  
HP: http://members.nbci.com/katarnx2b/  
Genre: Action, Drama  
Part: Chapter 1  
************************************************  
  
  
*****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING*****  
Contains spoilers for much of the series, as well as graphic, violent,  
and adult content. Rated PG-13. You may now finish skipping this.  
*****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING*****  
  
All thoughts are in script format. A name with a " or ' after it  
is another aspect of that person's personality they're conversing with.  
Just trying new styles out.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Shinji looked down at the photograph in his hands. Though the  
woman was obviously attractive, she didn't seem anything like his type.  
  
Even if she wasn't his type, she was still supposed to pick him  
up. She probably didn't know where he was though. Unfortunately, the  
rails had all stopped because of a State of Emergency that had been  
declared. Shinji took a wild guess that being outside right now wasn't a  
good thing.  
  
Shinji: It figures that the one time father calls for me,  
something dangerous and possibly fatal happens.  
  
Shinji placed the photograph back in his pocket. There was  
nothing to do but wait and hope that this 'Misato' person showed up.  
  
A flock of birds suddenly took flight, and caught Shinji's  
attention. When he looked up, he saw a girl, about his age, with blue  
hair. Shinji stared for a moment then gasped when she suddenly  
disappeared. There was no puff of smoke, no object blurring by; he  
hadn't blinked, hadn't looked away either. She was there one moment and  
simply gone the next.  
  
Shinji didn't have any time to ponder this interesting and  
confusing event, because a split second later a thirty story monster  
came romping around the hill to his right with a swarm of VTOL fighters  
buzzing around it, laying down heavy fire. They didn't seem to be making  
much progress towards destroying it, though the monster easily destroyed  
one of the fighters right before Shinji's eyes.  
  
Unfortunately for Shinji, the fuel used by the fighter was  
highly combustive and caused a large, twisted piece of the fighter to be  
hurled at his current position. The shrapnel collided with the roofing  
overhead, and spilled large amounts of debris around Shinji. Luckily,  
none of the large pieces hit him, nor did any of the fast moving small  
ones.  
  
The loud purr of an engine and screech of tires against pavement  
and inertia later, a sweet blue sports car skidded to a halt in front of  
Shinji. The door opened and he saw the woman from the picture.  
  
"Hurry up and get in!" she yelled.  
  
Not wanting to argue with someone willing to, hopefully, take  
him far away from the Godzilla wannabe, Shinji promptly complied by  
hurtling himself into the vehicle as fast as his young legs could.  
  
"Misato, I presume?" asked Shinji, still breathing heavily from  
his little foray with death.  
  
"Correct as usual, King Friday."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Before your time."  
  
"Okay." Shinji was smart and considerate enough not to make some  
quip about age. After all, she was hot and getting him away from danger.  
  
"Misato-san... can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Sure, go right ahead!" she was eerily cheerful to Shinji.  
  
"Do you know what that thing back there was?"  
  
"An Angel."  
  
"Oh, that's nice. So, basically... it's the end of the world?"  
  
"Not if we can help it!"  
  
"I don't think you can. Those fighters seemed to be wasting  
their time."  
  
"Those were JSSDF fighters. I'm not talking about them. I  
already know they won't do anything but slow it down some."  
  
"Um... okay. Here's another question, why did my father send his  
secretary to pick me up?"  
  
Misato growled and sent the car swerving from one side of the  
road to the next. "I'M NOT A SECRETARY!! I'M A CAPTAIN IN THE UN FORCES  
AND HEAD OF THE TACTICAL OPERATION AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT OF THE  
SPECIAL ORGINIZATION NERV!!!"  
  
"SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! Please stop before you hit something!"  
Shinji pleaded for his life.  
  
"Fine. Just don't -ever- call me a secretary!"  
  
"I promise I won't Misato-Ichi-i! Just don't kill both of us!"  
  
"Okay," said Misato, once again back to her old self, "now that  
you know better!"  
  
Shinji: I wonder if I got in a car with a schitzo?  
  
Shinji": Of course you did!  
  
Shinji: I meant another one.  
  
Shinji": I don't know... You're on your own for this one.  
  
Shinji: A lot of help you are!  
  
Shinji": Hey, if you need to do something insane or violent, I'll be  
right there!  
  
Shinji: Where else would you be?  
  
Shinji': Good point.  
  
Shinji came out of his introspection in time to notice the car  
had parked in a reinforced tunnel.  
  
"Why are we parked in here?" he asked.  
  
Misato held out a pair of binoculars. "Look and see for  
yourself. You wouldn't believe me otherwise."  
  
Shinji peered through the refractive lenses, his gaze sweeping  
the horizon. All Shinji could see was mountains, the trail of  
destruction left by the "Angel", the afore mentioned Angel, and nothing  
else. Of course, there was that immense, orange and white robot that  
just emerged from the ground; can't forget that!  
  
"What is that?" Shinji queried.  
  
"That's Unit-Zero."  
  
"And I guess that's what you plan on attacking that 'Angel'  
with, right?"  
  
"You catch on quick!" that annoyingly sweet voice again.  
  
"Tell me, did you purposely paint it to look like a giant,  
walking, dream-sickle?"  
  
Misato growled and snatched the binoculars away from Shinji,  
placing them against her eyes. It didn't really matter to Shinji; the  
robot was big enough to be seen from that distance with the naked eye.  
  
The robot began its attack, barreling at the Angel at top speed.  
The Angel didn't seem too worried by this, though. Apparently, it had  
good reason not to worry. As soon as Unit-00 closed within hand-to-hand  
combat range, it collided with an iridescent, orange, hexangular, energy  
field. The field only served to slow the walking dream-sickle down, it  
soon began to weaken and tear through the energy field.  
  
Unfortunately, all it took was a momentary pause in Unit-00's  
attack for the Angel to strike. The beast lashed out with its long,  
skinny, right arm, clasping the Unit's neck between its atrophied  
fingers. The monstrosity's arm seemed to bulge suddenly, sprouting  
rippling muscles. Lifting its fellow monstrosity off the ground like a  
toy, the Angel began to throttle it's captive's throat.  
  
Reaching out with its other hand, the Angel grabbed and began to  
crush Unit-00's right forearm. The Unit let out a cry that sounded like  
a cross between a moan and a howl, though it was strangled from the  
Angel's throttling. Unit-00's arm reached the breaking point... then  
exceeded it. There was a horrible, sickening, snap, followed closely by  
a howl of pain from the "defender" as red blood spurted from the break.  
  
"So much for saving us all." Shinji helpfully intoned.  
  
Misato simply growled as her eyes stayed glued on the battle,  
never wavering.  
  
Though Shinji expected the Angel to finish off the robot, it  
seemed the leviathan had other plans. Reaching out with it's remaining  
arm, the beast was only too happy to return the favor to the goliath  
holding it. The armored hand of Unit-00 clasped the wrist of the Angel,  
applying unthinkable amount of torque to the joint, snapping it into  
dozens of pieces.  
  
Unlike the Eva, the Angel bled blue. The oozing, azure liquid  
seeped onto the Eva's hand as the mecha dropped to the ground, the  
Angel's wrist no longer able to support its immense weight.  
  
Though Unit-00 had managed to momentarily gain the upper hand,  
the Angel did not give it a chance to continue its attack. Striking like  
the Eva had never hurt it, the Angel grabbed the Unit by the neck with  
its good, left arm. Lifting it once more, the Angel held the man-made  
monstrosity over its head.  
  
Shinji watched as the ivory spike that protruded from the  
Angel's elbow began to glow neon pink. The glowing protrusion  
disappeared into the creature's arm. Unit-00 shuddered as the energy  
spike tried to bury itself into the neck of the Evangelion.  
  
Red blood from the fresh wound contrasted sharply with the dark  
grey of the Angel's hand. The energy spike pulled back once more,  
pausing a moment, before slamming once more into the neck of the  
Evangelion. Another expulsion of blood quickly followed.  
  
Unit-00 grabbed for the Angel's remaining good arm, in an  
attempt to free itself. The Angel did not fall for the same trick twice.  
In one fluid motion, the Angel wheeled about, swinging the Evangelion  
wide, before releasing the beast, and propelling it away with a cross-  
shaped blast from its "eyes".  
  
The giant robot crashed to the ground seven and a half  
kilometers away in a crumpled heap, blood flowing freely from its neck  
and abdomen.  
  
Shinji caught sight of Misato raising a radio to her ear.  
  
"Go to plan 'Backlash' now!" A pause. "I know, for now this is  
our only choice." Another pause. "Yes, he's here. We'll be there  
shortly."  
  
Shinji decided to simply file the half of the conversation he  
had heard for later and instead focus on the eminent demise of the beast  
that was supposed to have guarded them.  
  
The Angel stalked ever closer to the fallen titan, readying for  
the final strike. The ivory spike in its right arm glowed neon pink once  
more.  
  
The orange Unit-Zero struggled like a wounded animal, trying to  
escape the jaws of the wolf. It managed to raise its immense weight onto  
its left arm as the Angel of Darkness stalked ever closer to its  
cornered prey.  
  
It came as a surprise to Shinji when the hill behind Unit-00  
split open, and a giant harness rolled out on two tracks. The Evangelion  
rolled into the harness, which quickly retreated into the hill that soon  
closed with the Leviathan's retreat.  
  
Looking up, Shinji noticed a lone plane flying above the  
battlefield. As Shinji was deciding whether it was a lone plane because  
it was performing aerial reconnaissance or because it was the only plane  
left flying after the failed assault on the "Angel", he didn't hear  
Misato's warning the first time. Or the second time. Or the fifth time.  
It was then that Misato grabbed Shinji by the collar and hauled him back  
from the tunnel entrance, all but throwing him behind the car.  
  
Shinji was planning on "discussing" that little action with  
Misato (now that they were out of the car) but since all the air had  
been squeezed out of his lungs by the shockwave from a large explosion  
in close proximity to his current location, it was a moot point. A  
moment later Shinji collapsed under the crushing pressure. His eyes  
clamped shut not to keep out to searing light, but in an attempt to keep  
them in their sockets.  
  
A few seconds later the brunt of the blast had past them. Shinji  
staggered to his feet hacking and coughing. The scalding wind buffeted  
him as he rose above the windbreak of the car. In his stunned state,  
Shinji was easily unbalanced by the onslaught of the gale.  
  
Standing once more, though significantly more stable this time,  
Shinji turned to look at the area where the "Angel" was last time he  
looked. He had to shield his eyes from the piercing residual light of  
the blast.  
  
Looking up, Shinji saw the tail end of the explosion. A great  
pillar of fire was boiling up around where the "Angel" used to be. All  
Shinji could manage to express his awe at the destruction was a guttural  
moan.  
  
Misato, too, stared at the searing cloud as it boiled into the  
air, though she was thinking totally different thoughts from Shinji. She  
was more concerned on how much time they had just bought themselves.  
  
Grabbing Shinji by the arm, Misato threw him back into the  
passenger seat of the car. Shinji barely had time to claw for his  
seatbelt as the car lurched forward.  
  
"FUCK!" screamed Shinji with what little breath remained in his  
lungs. "That was an en-two mine!"  
"We had no other option."  
  
Shinji risked a glance out the window of the car. There was  
still a lot of risidual light from the molten rock, the very air around  
the blast was giving off light. Through the just below blinding glare,  
Shinji could bearly make out a figure. "It's still there."  
"Of course. That was just to buy us some time."  
  
Silence pervaded the rest of the trip.  
  
--  
  
Misato was almost constantly on her cell phone for the next ten  
minutes. Shinji didn't mind, he had learned to appretiate silence with  
patience, calm, and joy. He had a lot to think about.  
  
Obviously his father wanted him for something very important, or  
else he wouldn't have called him. Fuck that sentimental shit about  
having loved ones near you at the end. They'd tried that whole "family"  
trip before. Misato had mentioned repeatidly that she was buying time.  
Shinji surmised that she was buying time to get him into "Evangelion  
Unit-Zero" or another like it.  
  
Shinji": Boy, won't she be in for a rude awakening.  
  
Shinji: You just love poping people's bubbles, don't you?  
  
Shinji": I just love that look on their face when their whole world  
comes to a screaming, shattering stop.  
  
Shinji stopped thinking, and started waiting. It was a nice  
view. The Geofront was quite beautiful.  
  
--  
  
The trip down from the surface took 15 minutes, including  
parking -- which Misato could apparently do at 110kph. It took another  
ten minutes of wandering before Misato started to look like she knew  
where she was going (the cell phone hadn't helped).  
  
They eventually met up with another atractive woman, this time a  
blonde, wearing a wet suit and a lab coat (that was a wet dream waiting  
to happen). She seemed to know where she was going better than Misato.  
Ritsuko, as the woman turned out to be named, and Misato converced back  
and forth. Shinji couldn't understand most of what they were talking  
about so he just filled it away while he continued to read the  
orientation manual he had been given. He did, however, find out that he  
was going to pilot "Unit-One", or so they thought.  
  
Much to Shinji's annoyance, that lights suddenly went out. He  
looked around for the cause but his eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark  
yet. It didn't really matter as the lights came back with a vengance.  
Unfortunately, his eyes had dialated just enough for the light to be  
painful.  
  
Squinting through the light he saw a hideaous visage in front of  
him. It didn't disturb him though. After seeing Unit-00, he was prepared  
for it.  
  
"Shinji, this is Unit-One. You'll be piloting this," said  
Ritsuko.  
  
"So you say."  
  
"Shinji, the entire human race is depending on you. You have to  
pilot!" Misato seemd to be very adament about him piloting Unit-01.  
  
"You're mistaken. I don't *have* to do anything, you just *want*  
me too."  
  
"If you don't pilot then you'll die too! Do you want to die?!"  
  
"You catch on quick!" Aparently, Misato didn't like Shinji's  
imatation of her, though he noticed Ritsuko holding back a snicker.  
  
"Listen, you can't just roll over and die! It's not that  
simple!"  
  
"Yes it is."  
  
Shinji": Oh! OH! Three more seconds and her ideals come crashing down  
around her!!  
  
"It doesn't matter. We'll simply use Rei." Both Misato and  
Shinji froze at the Commanders voice. Shinji found it disconcerting how  
little his father's voice had changed in six years.  
  
"But she can't pilot! She can barely breathe on her own!  
Besides, Unit-Zero is no longer fit for combat."  
  
"It doesn't matter. She'll pilot Unit-One."  
  
The whole building shook suddenly. The Beast was on the move.  
Shinji stared the other beast in it's cold dead eyes. Covered up to the  
chin in a pink fluid.  
  
  
A swarm of medics came through the doors to Shinji's right.  
Between them there was a gurney. The perosn on it was probably "Rei",  
the unfortunate pilot of Unit-00.  
  
There was another, stronger blasting and the ground underfoot  
shook like gelatin. Worse, the cieling overhead crumbled like stale  
bread. Instictively, Shinji leaped for the girl falling off the  
strecher. The liquid in front of Unit-01 exploded away violently. When  
it was all over, Shinji was on his knees with the girl laying in his  
arms, rubble piled on all sides of them. Not a single piece of debris  
had fallen within two meters of him.  
  
Misato looked at Shinji, clutching Rei, surrounded by boulders.  
The coolant surrounding the Evangelion still churning. "Did what I think  
happen just happen?"  
  
"This might just work," said Ritsuko.  
  
Gendo just smirked.  
  
  
Shinji opened his eyes and took his first good look at Rei.  
Really his second look at her. It was the same girl he had seen at the  
train station. Misato hadn't been exaggerating when she said Rei could  
barely breathe on her own. The girl lay in his arms, gasping for air.  
She was covered in bandages, her left eye, her abdomen, her right ankle  
were all covered in gauze, and her right arm was in a cast.  
  
Shinji felt something warm and wet on his hand. Shinji didn't  
need to see the startling red to know it was blood. Rei went through a  
short spasm, twitching and coughing blood.  
  
Shinji': Save Her.  
  
Shinji: I can't.  
  
Shinji": Fight.  
  
Shinji: I won't.  
  
Shinji': Help her. She needs you.  
  
Shinji: But... my father...  
  
Shinji': That doesn't matter. We have a fight we must fight now.  
  
Shinji: I'll do it...  
  
Once more, aloud: "I'll do it."  
  
--  
  
The Plugsuit clung uncomfortably to him. The Entry plug felt  
claustrophic around him. He had the uneasy feeling he was sitting in a  
coffin. Not just any coffin, his coffin.  
  
"Okay, Shinji," Ritsuko's voice over the intercomm. "This might  
hurt some."  
  
Shinji knew that when someone said that something would hurt  
"some" that it would hurt a lot. Even that couldn't have prepared him  
for the pain he felt. Needles rammed themselves all along his spine, his  
forhead, arms, chest, legs. They went through bones, through flesh,  
seeking  
out nerves and striking them full on. He tried to struggle but the seat  
clamped down on him.  
  
  
"Begin LCL injection," Commanded Ritsuko.  
  
"Injecting LCL," replied a tech.  
  
  
Shinji felt a sudden burning sensation come from the needles, it  
felt like acid was being pored into his nerves, rasing Shinji to a level  
of pain he had never know. The searing pain began to radiate out from  
the needles.  
  
  
"LCL saturation at sixty-five percent and rising."  
  
"Copelhigger arc steady at point-two-oh-nine-six."  
  
"LCL saturation at seventy-three percent."  
  
"Begin electro-induction," Ritsuko ordered.  
  
  
The electricity arced trough the needles into Shinji's body.  
Shinji didn't even notice. He was already experience as much pain as he  
could be. His nervous system simply couldn't express pain in any way  
more  
intense than it already was. The electricity was just a drop lost in an  
ocean.  
  
Suddenly Shinji felt something tickling at the back of his mind,  
forcing it's way to the surface. For an instant, he saw Rei lying on a  
bed before him. Before he could do or say anything, the feeling rushed  
through him.  
  
  
"Nerual connections established. Steady up to three-oh-seven."  
  
"Begin meta-connections." Ritsuko stared intensly at the screen.  
  
  
Shinji felt part of his mind being snatched away. He felt  
*somthing* coalese around that piece of his mind. It was slightly  
disconcerting, but so far it was his first experience inside the Eva  
that didn't immediately result in intense pain.  
  
  
"First connection holding."  
  
"Proceed with connections as normal."  
  
  
More and more pieces of Shinji's mind were being stripped away,  
faster and faster. It was getting harder and harder to focus on any one  
specific thing for any lenght of time. A pain not unlike someone driving  
a hot poker into his forhead began.  
  
  
"Ma'am! Pulse flow reversing! Psych waveform inverting!"  
  
"Shit!" Ritsuko pushed the tech in front of her aside and  
started typing furiously. "His phase alignment is shifting. Quantum  
delta-line approaching!"  
  
"Ready for launch!"  
  
Ritsuko spared a look at Misato. "Are you serious?! There's an  
Angel up there!"  
  
"Let it deal with Shinji."  
  
Ritsuko tried everything she knew in an attempt to keep Shinji  
human. It didn't matter. The displays showed, he was nearing the point  
of no return. Even as her hands flew across the keyboard, the Eva  
was being manuvered towards the catapult.  
  
"Point of no return reached!"  
  
And that was that.  
  
  
Shinji felt the last shred of his sanity leave him as the g-  
forces  
of the catapult. By time he reached the surface there was no sign of the  
  
mind know as "Shinji" left.  
  
As soon as the lift reached ground level, Unit-01 broke free of  
the bindings. An energy flew off of Unit-01 reducing everthing within  
three blocks of it to ruins.  
  
  
The support staff watched the monitor in fear as Unit-01 let out  
a beastial roar.  
  
"Poor Shinji," said the tech beside Ritsuko.  
  
"Don't say that." Ritsuko replied with a cold voice. "That's not  
Shinji anymore. He's *fallen*..."  
  
  
Abra Cadabra  
[Let it be done] - Arabic 


	2. Chapter 2

123456789112345678921234567893123456789412345678951234567896123456789712  
************************************************  
Title: Upon Bladed Wings  
Author: Jonathan "Katarn" Gaters  
E-mail: KatarnX2B@NetZero.net  
HP: http://members.nbci.com/katarnx2b/  
Genre: Action, Drama  
Part: Chapter 2  
************************************************  
  
  
*****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING*****  
Contains spoilers for much of the series, as well as graphic, violent,  
and adult content. Rated PG-13. You may now finish skipping this.  
*****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING*****  
  
All thoughts are in script format. A name with a " or ' after it  
is another aspect of that person's personality they're conversing with.  
I've decided to use the Japanese names for the Evangelion units. Shoguki  
is Unit-01, Niguki is Unit-02, and if you can't guess what Zeroguki is,  
you probably don't have the IQ to be literate, so I don't have anything  
to worry about.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
LAST TIME:  
#  
#  
# Shinji felt the last shred of his sanity leave him as the g-  
#forces of the catapult. By time he reached the surface there was no  
#sign of the mind know as "Shinji" left.  
#  
# As soon as the lift reached ground level, Unit-01 broke free of  
#the bindings. An energy flew off of Unit-01 reducing everything within  
#three blocks of it to ruins.  
#  
#  
# The support staff watched the monitor in fear as Unit-01 let  
#out a bestial roar.  
#  
# "Poor Shinji," said the tech beside Ritsuko.  
#  
# "Don't say that." Ritsuko replied with a cold voice. "That's  
#not Shinji anymore. He's *fallen*..."  
#  
#  
  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
AND NOW...  
  
  
KILL!! The one thought permeating Af's mind. Their ENEMY had  
been stolen from them. But there was a -new- ENEMY for them! They could   
feel ENEMY moving in the distance. They could almost smell its blood!  
  
Af stalked their ENEMY, growing ever closer. ENEMY knew they  
were coming, no doubt about it. ENEMY was coming right at them. There,   
right around the building!  
  
Af turned left on the next intersecting street. There was ENEMY.  
So smug in ENEMY's path of destruction. ENEMY would have that smugness  
ripped out of its soul at Af's hand.  
  
Af opened their mouth and screamed at the top of their lungs,  
"ENEMY!! WE SHALL BEFOUL YOUR VERY EXISTANCE!!!"  
  
--  
  
Most people in Central Dogma shuddered when they heard Shoguki's  
roar reverberate through headsets and speakers alike --that horrible,  
bestial scream. Except, of course, the Commander and the Sub-Commander.  
  
'At least it's intercepting the Angel,' thought Misato.  
  
Everyone's eyes were locked on the three dimensional display in  
front of the command tower. There was nothing any of them could do  
-except- watch.  
  
--  
  
Af took the first move, leaping at ENEMY with all the strength  
they could muster. ENEMY did not move and instead let Af collide with  
ENEMY's chest. ENEMY bent over backwards with the force of the impact.  
  
The air began to shimmer between Af and ENEMY. Af suddenly found  
themselves flung backwards at a great velocity. They tried to land but  
their body felt weird around them and they botched the landing.  
  
Af tumbled several hundred meters before they gained enough  
control to bring their body to a stop. When they tried to scramble to  
their feet, they simply slipped fell back down. Af tried to rise again  
-- this time slower -- but they had wasted just enough time on the first  
attempt to allow ENEMY to close on them.  
  
--  
  
In Central Dogma, the staff watched helplessly as the Angel  
grabbed Shoguki by the ankle and promptly slammed it into the side of a  
building. People called out damage reports almost mechanically. It was  
more for the records than for any real use they could put it to.  
  
--  
  
Af managed to catch hold of a weapon. It was a beam from the  
building they had just demolished. Af hurled the beam at ENEMY's "face".  
It crumpled like and accordion a few inches away from ENEMY's "face".  
  
'And here comes another building,' thought Af.  
  
--  
  
Misato had taken notice of the beam bouncing off the Angel.  
  
"Is Shoguki AT field active?"  
"No ma'am. Its AT field isn't unfolding," replied a tech from  
somewhere to her left.  
"What's wrong with it? If he can't use his AT field the he's as  
good as dead."  
"There's nothing wrong with it," replied Ritsuko. "He's just not  
deploying it."  
  
--  
  
ENEMY dragged Af out of the fresh rubble that once was a  
building by their leg. Af noticed ENEMY's arm begin to swell like it did  
when ENEMY crushed Akriel's arm. ENEMY was looking to cripple him. Af  
couldn't let ENEMY get away with it so easily.  
  
Af snatched their leg back suddenly then slammed both their feet  
into ENEMY's chest. The result was ENEMY being pulled forward and off  
balance by ENEMY's own powerful grip, and ENEMY releasing ENEMY's grip  
just in time to get propelled backwards into a building at high  
velocity.  
  
Af scrambled across ground and over the gravel and wreckage that  
used to be a city block to get at ENEMY. ENEMY was just beginning to get  
up and had no damage done when Af got within striking distance. Their  
hands reached out toward ENEMY until they ran into a glowing barrier. Af  
didn't care; they had planned for ENEMY's Light to shine.  
  
Af focused their mind and brought their Light to bear.  
  
--  
  
"Shoguki is generating an AT Field!" screamed a tech. He was  
just in time to state the obvious as a shimmering band of energy sprang  
from Shoguki's hand, smashing into the Angel's AT Field.  
  
It was quite a spectacular light show. The radiating orange  
octagons from the Angel's AT Field provided a nice background for the  
white opalescent beam of lightning leaping from Shoguki's fingers.  
  
--  
  
Af grinned inwardly (as they had no lips) as ENEMY stumbled back  
from the blast, ENEMY's Light momentarily skewed. ENEMY was stunned just  
long enough for Af to plant one good punch in ENEMY's "face".  
  
If those were ENEMY's -real- eyes in ENEMY's "face", ENEMY would  
have been blinded as Af had crushed ENEMY's face in on itself. Sadly,  
ENEMY could still see just fine, which ENEMY quickly proved by grabbing  
Af and manhandling them to the ground.  
  
Af still wasn't used to their body and couldn't balance  
themselves enough to stay up.  
  
Af found an easy solution to their problems. They simply started  
kicking violently at ENEMY's chest, which ENEMY left exposed as ENEMY  
tried to keep Af on the ground.  
  
Af felt their foot make contact with ENEMY's soul. The next kick  
impacted ENEMY's soul, confirming their aim. Af's leg suddenly shifted  
into high speed, pistoning ENEMY's soul, cracking it.  
  
In an attempt to stop them, ENEMY gabbed Af's head with ENEMY's  
right arm and rammed ENEMY's energy lance into Af's head repeatedly.  
  
It was now a race to see who would give out first. Neither could  
do anything to stop the other besides kill them.  
  
--  
  
The loud crunch was clearly audible through the speakers in  
Central dogma. Both the Angel and Shoguki froze. All over the command  
center people held their breaths for fear of jinxing it.  
  
"Angel's gone silent."  
  
Misato stripped her eyes away from the screen just long enough  
to look at Ritsuko. The doctor had barely whispered that sentence, but  
in the silence it sounded just short of a yell.  
  
"Ma'am!" shouted one of the techs sitting near Ritsuko.  
"Detecting a high-energy reaction coming from within the Angel!"  
  
--  
  
Af knew that ENEMY would try and take both of them out if it  
couldn't get past them to ENEMY's goal. Normally Af's armor could take  
the explosion with little damage to the flesh beneath. Unless of course  
it had been compromised by, say, a giant pink energy spike.  
  
A bright white light engulfed Af.  
  
haHfKhDfD: Fuck.  
  
--  
  
Shinji woke with a start, followed closely by a wince of pain.  
Apparently he had broken several ribs.  
  
Lying back down, Shinji began to take note of where he was.  
Apparently it was a hospital. He was in a South-facing room as sunlight  
was streaming in. It appeared to be late afternoon. He had bandages  
around his chest, his head, and his left eye. He probably looked like  
that girl...  
  
Shinji laughed at that thought. Maybe they could go to the prom  
together! Shinji briefly wondered if she was in this same hospital. It  
was totally logical to assume that. Of course, it was totally logical  
that they'd try to keep the pilots as far away from each other as  
possible so they wouldn't lose both of them in one strike.  
  
Shinji noticed an intravenous drip in his left arm. It was  
dripping some sort of orange liquid into his body. That would be the  
first thing he asked about when someone came to check on him.  
  
Shinji didn't have to wait long for that. The bio-monitors had  
set off a silent alarm the moment he awoke, signaling to the doctor to  
come check on him. A man wearing a white lab coat over scrubs and a  
woman in the classic nurse's uniform walked in.  
  
"Good morning, Mr. Ikari. And how are we feeling today?"  
  
"Like shit. What's in the I.V.?"  
  
"Just some medicine to help you heal," said the doctor being  
purposely vague.  
  
"No, I mean what is the name of the medication and what is its  
exact function?"  
  
"Don't worry about that. Nurse Kitamura here will take you blood  
pressure and temperature."  
  
Shinji smiled, nodded, and promptly snatched the I.V. from his  
arm. The doctor looked shocked and the nurse took a hasty step back.  
  
Without a word, Shinji slid off the foot of the bed, ignoring  
the fact that hospital gowns were obviously designed by a homosexual  
transvestite comedian and the trickle of blood running down his arm from  
where the I.V. had been, and proceeded to a chair were someone had laid  
out some of his clothing.  
  
Shinji: Morons! I can't believe someone laid out the shirt from outfit  
number three with the pants from outfit number five! It wasn't like I  
didn't label them!  
  
"I'm going to get dressed and then I'm going to leave. If you  
wish to stay and watch, go right ahead."  
  
The doctor seized Shinji's arm saying, "I have strict orders to  
keep you here until further notification!"  
  
Shinji smiled and spoke in a low, measured tone, "Since this is  
the first time we've met, I'll give you until the count of one to take  
your hand off me and never touch me again. One."  
  
The doctor's reflexes weren't very good to begin with and he  
wasn't expecting Shinji to actually follow through with his threat. So  
when Shinji gave a quick twist of his arm and the doctor felt Shinji's  
hand close around his wrist, he was caught completely off guard.  
  
The doctor let out a yelp and sprung away from Shinji and  
gingerly held his arm. It was numb from the wrist down, though he could  
still feel pain throbbing through it.  
  
The doctor backed away towards the door. The nurse had already  
hurried away.  
  
  
  
Shinji walked out of his hospital room fully dressed and ready  
to leave. He calmly walked past the front desk where the doctor that he  
had just met was talking into a phone. Shinji ignored him and simply  
headed towards the nearest bank of elevators.  
  
Pushing the "down" button, Shinji waited patiently for the  
elevator to arrive. The ding of the elevator alerted him to its arrival.  
The doors opened and revealed a familiar face. Captain Katsuragi Misato  
looked mildly surprised to see Shinji standing there.  
  
"Are you getting off?" asked Shinji.  
  
"No, not anymore."  
  
Shinji nodded and entered the elevator. Shinji reached slightly  
past Misato to push the button for the ground floor.  
  
Misato took out her cell phone and talked into it briefly.  
"Yes... Yes... He's here with me now... Yes... I understand."  
  
The door opened onto the ground floor. Shinji stepped out and  
began towards the doors that seemed to lead outside.  
  
"Where's my stuff," he asked Misato without looking over his  
shoulder.  
  
"I'll take you to it. Arrangements have been made for your  
residence."  
  
"It was a waste of time and resources. I won't be staying."  
  
"You've already piloted once, why not stay and do something for  
your species?"  
  
Shinji snorted at the comment. "Simple biology. In humans, as  
with most animals, first comes Self-preservation, then Reproduction, and  
finally Species-preservation. As doing this puts my life in direct  
danger and I have yet to see any mini-Shinjis running around, I have to  
decline your invitation to stay."  
  
A new voice spoke from behind Shinji, "If you don't stay,  
there's a very good chance you'll die along with the rest of your  
species. And since Reproduction is simply a merging of both Self-  
preservation and Species-preservation, you should be leaping at the  
chance to pilot."  
  
Shinji turned around to see who had made that last statement. It  
was Dr. Akagi, and standing beside her was the blue haired pilot,  
Ayanami Rei.  
  
"A very logical and convincing argument, Dr. Akagi. Possibly the  
most sane thing I've heard anyone say since I arrived here."  
  
"I'll take that as a complement."  
  
Shinji looked at Rei. She was wearing what appeared to be a  
school uniform. She didn't have nearly as many bandages as when Shinji  
had last seen her, though her cast was still on.  
  
Rei looked out her unbandaged eye at Shinji. Shinji looked back.  
They stood like that for a while, simply gazing at each other, neither  
moving, almost imperceptibly breathing.  
  
Shinji shook off the weird feeling he had and walked through the  
doors that parted so readily for him at the exit.  
  
  
--  
  
  
Shinji sat in the passenger seat of Misato's car as it sat in  
the linear train. His head rested on his fist against the door. He was  
contemplating whether or not he should stay over the soothing hum of the  
magnetic inductors.  
  
"So what was that back there," asked Misato, breaking the rather  
pleasant silence.  
  
"What was what?"  
  
"It looked to me like you and Rei had a moment."  
  
Shinji looked both puzzled and mildly amused. "Exactly what is a  
moment?"  
  
"Oh, you know! You're at a party; you look across the room...  
You see her, she looks up, your eyes meet and... you have a moment!"  
  
"One, you've been reading too many romance novels. Two, that was  
not a moment."  
  
"Then what was it?"  
  
Shinji": She wouldn't understand.  
  
"You wouldn't understand."  
  
"And why not?"  
  
Shinji': She's never been in an Eva.  
  
"You've never been inside an Eva."  
  
  
--  
  
  
Shinji waited for Misato to open the door to her apartment.  
  
"It was a-" started Misato.  
  
"No it wasn't!" retorted Shinji. Misato had been teasing him  
over it the whole trip over.  
  
"Oh, yes it was!"  
  
"Oh, no it wasn't!"  
  
"Well then, what was it?!"  
  
"I'd explain it to you, but you've never experienced anything  
like it so you'd have no frame of reference!"  
  
Misato grinned like a Cheshire cat as the door to her apartment  
slid open.  
  
"Was too."  
  
"Go to hell!"  
  
"Been there, done that, brought back souvenirs!"  
  
"Just shut up and tell me where my stuff is!"  
  
"You shouldn't talk to your superiors like that!"  
  
"You're not my superior, you're just old!"  
  
Misato let out a low, guttural growl and lunged for Shinji.  
Shinji managed to evade her. Misato tried again and again to grab hold  
of Shinji, but he was consistently just outside her grasp.  
  
Fed up, Misato drew her gun from her shoulder holster. "Take it  
back you little twerp!"  
  
Instead of panicking or even stopping --like Misato had hoped--  
Shinji lunged at her, grabbed her arm and pulled a disarming maneuver  
that left Misato unarmed, and pinned in a very uncomfortable position.  
  
"Now," said Shinji in a very calm and collected voice, "where's  
my stuff?"  
  
"Down the hall, third door on the right!"  
  
"Now, was that so hard?" Shinji asked in a very condescending  
tone of voice as he let go of Misato's arm and took a quick hop back out  
of Misato's reach.  
  
"You little bastard! What if that gun had gone off?" Misato  
yelled, rubbing her shoulder.  
  
"First of all, if it did go off it would have been your fault  
for drawing the weapon. Secondly, the safety is on. And finally, I can't  
possibly be a bastard since my father is unfortunately alive, and I do  
believe you work for him, don't you?"  
  
Misato grumbled as Shinji walked down the hall to the third door  
on the right.  
  
"Where the hell did you learn to do that anyway?" called Misato  
after Shinji.  
  
"My teacher taught me advanced self-defense moves," said Shinji  
as he came back with his bag over his shoulder.  
  
"Remind me to thank him for that, will you?"  
  
Shinji snickered as his fastened his watch around his wrist.  
Then he saw the date.  
  
"I've been out for almost three days!" exclaimed Shinji.  
  
"You suffered severe brain trauma during the battle. It took  
awhile to repair the damage."  
  
"About that, what exactly happened during that battle?"  
  
"You mean you don't remember?"  
  
Shijni": Wait, you don't remember?  
  
"Should I?"  
  
"I don't know. I'll have to ask Ritsuko about that."  
  
Shinji just shrugged, "Memory loss is a sign of brian damage,  
which you said I have."  
  
"Had."  
  
"No, have," said Shinji, annoyed that Misato didn't understand,  
"Brain damage is permanent as nerve cells don't grow back and neural  
pathways that are destroyed are normally lost forever."  
  
Misato shook her head, "Doesn't work that way. Almost one-eighth  
of your brain died during that battle. It grew back just fine. Little  
things like Laws of Nature have no place at NERV."  
  
Shinji was mildly stunned. According to Misato, he should have a  
severe problem in functioning normally. Instead he hadn't even noticed  
the difference, if one even exsisted.  
  
Shinji': It doesn't matter.  
  
"It doesn't matter, really. I'm fine now, that's all that  
counts. Now if you excuse me I must leave."  
  
Misato stepped in front of Shinji as he tried to walk to the  
door.  
  
"Don't try to stop me."  
  
"I'm just trying help you see the fact that you want to stay  
here."  
  
Shijni': We should stay.  
  
Shijni: No we shouldn't.  
  
"I don't want to stay here."  
  
"Sure you do. If you leave you won't get to go to school here!"  
  
"Why would I want to go to your center for the ruthless  
indoctrinations? There's nothing they can teach me that I don't already  
know, and I like my brain dirty and unwashed, thank you!"  
  
Misato grinned the grin she reserved for when she played her  
trump card and completely out-manuvered the opposition. "Girls. Cute  
ones, too. Lots of them. Twice as many of them as guys."  
  
Shinji": Girls? Girls! Did she say girls?!  
  
Shinji': I think we might need to investigate this a little further.  
  
Shinji: I don't trust her.  
  
Shinji': Ask her for evidence!  
  
"I want proof."  
  
Misato walked into one of the many rooms occupying the apartment  
and returned with a large stack of folders. "These are the girls that  
will specifically be in your class. I have digital copies of the files  
on all the other girls at your school if you want to look at them too."  
  
Shinji took the stack and quickly flipped through them, mentally  
earmarking ones he felt showed the most promise. There were indeed many  
cute girls in his class.  
  
"Fine. I'll agree to a trial period of three weeks. After that  
time, if I choose to leave for any reason, I'm free to go."  
  
"Agreed," said Misato as they shook on it. "We can go down there  
right now and get you signed up."  
  
Shinji turned and looked expectantly towards the door a full  
three seconds before the door opened and Ritsuko walked in, with Rei  
close behind her.  
  
"Hey, Misato. Hello, Shinji, I expected you to be gone by now."  
  
Shinji glanced briefly at Rei before he turned his attention to  
Ritsuko. "I decided to stay for a trial period."  
  
"Are you going to be here long?" asked Misato.  
  
"Not really. I just stopped by to drop Rei off and then I'm back  
out."  
  
"Would you mind taking Shinji to get enrolled in school? I  
really have to finish the post-sortie briefings so I can get started on  
the after-engagement reports."  
  
"Sure. If you don't get those done then I can't finish my work."  
  
--  
  
Ritsuko and Shinji drove on in silence for a fairly long while  
before Shinji broke the silence.  
  
"So how did you and Misato end up living together?"  
  
Ritsuko gave a short laugh and a wry grin crossed her face. "We  
met back in university. Through a serious of odd occurances I ended up  
tutoring her in a subject. Like most students we did most of our  
studying at a local coffee shop, so after the lessons we'd end up just  
hanging out, sipping Java. I was very quiet back then, and Misato talked  
almost constantly. We ended up balancing each other out."  
  
"Now tell me how someone like her ended up in such a high  
position in such a prestigeous orginization."  
  
"Don't let her demeanor fool you for one second. That woman is a  
genius."  
  
Seeing Shinji's look of disbelief, Ritsuko sought to elaborate,  
"Back in good ol' university days, Misato would try to get me to  
actively engage in conversation by asking me about what I was doing in  
my course work. Whenever I started to really get into it, her eyes would  
just sort of glaze over and she'd go comatose.  
"This just fostered a superiority complex that had been growing  
in me for years, and I started to develop serious fellings of  
superiority towards Misato in particular.  
"One day my ego pushed me to far and I asked Misato what _she_  
was doing in _her_ classes. She launched into an indepth discussion of  
the strategies being used in the combat sim that her Advanced Games and  
Theory class was running and contrasted the minute details of her  
classmate's strategies and her own, plus the underlying theories behind  
them.  
"She then listed off each and every one of her classmate's next  
moves --she had identified the patterns all of them worked under in the  
first two weeks of the class-- and how she would counter each strike,  
how she would defend certain people to gain allies, then simply not give  
any aid at a critical juncture when they were expecting it.  
"She pointed out all their weaknesses and how to exploit them  
properly.  
"That was the first time I ever felt dizzy simply by being  
talked over until I had an information overflow."  
  
"And that's when you fell in love with her?" asked Shinji.  
  
Ritsuko started laughing so hard she began to choke. Once she  
settled down enough to talk, she asked Shinji where he had gotten the  
idea that she was in love with Misato.  
  
"I had simply assumed you and her were life-partners and that  
Rei was your splice-baby," Shinji said, using the coloqulial term for a  
person concieved by invetro fertilization of a woman with the genetic  
material from another woman's ovum.  
  
"No, that's not even close. Me and Misato work odd hours, so it  
helps that we live together so that we don't have to do all that  
housework on our rigorous schedules."  
  
"So how does Rei fit into it?"  
  
"Misato suggested letting Rei stay in one of our extra rooms."  
  
--  
  
At the school, Shinji could hear the murmurs from the children  
in the classroms. He supposed it was over the unexpected arrival of a  
new student. No doubt the talk was exsasserbated by the fact that  
Ritsuko's lad coat had the NERV logo on it in several places. And,  
Shinji realized, he was still covered in bandages.  
  
It took surprisingly little time to get Shinji enrolled. Before  
long they had left the school and headed for a fast food resturant.  
  
"Why are we picking up dinner?" asked Shinji as Ritsuko handed  
him paper bags containing food.  
  
"Because Misato will probably cook if we didn't."  
  
"Is that such a bad thing?" said Shinji, questioningly.  
  
"Yes!" Ritsuko emphatically replied.  
  
--  
  
Durning the ride home, both Shinji and Ritsuko remained silent.  
  
Shinji": Are you _sure_ you don't remember what happened during the  
battle?  
  
Shinji: Why do you keep asking me that?! If _I_ can't remember it, _you_  
can't remember it either!  
  
Shinji': I too do not remember the battle.  
  
Shinji": But... I do remember the battle.  
  
Shiji: How..?  
  
Shinji": I don't know. I was wondering about that. That's why I've been  
so quiet recently.  
  
Shinji': We should probably take this as a sign of the furthering of  
your insanity, Shinji.  
  
Shinji: It might have something to do with the regenerative treatment I  
received after the battle.  
  
Shinji": Maybe.  
  
Shinji: Well... at least tell us what happened.  
  
Shinji": Let's see... It went like... You see... Oh hell! Let me just  
show you.  
  
Suddenly the burning hot poker was being rammed into his  
forehead again and Shinji doubled over in pain and began to thrash  
about.  
  
Unfortunately for Ritsuko, Shinji still had enough LCL in his  
system to making him a danger to anyone around him. Shinji's arm shot  
out and easily went through the dashboard of Ritsuko's car. Shinji's  
legs kicked against the floor, snapping the back off Shinji's seat as  
his left elbow broke the glass in the door's window.  
  
To her credit, Ritsuko was quick to pull the car over and stop.  
It was fortunate she did, as shortly after she parked, Shinji tore his  
door off the hinges and crumpled to the ground outside the car, rolling  
around on the ground, hands clawing at his scalp.  
  
Shinji finally settled on clasping his arms over his head   
similar to the clasic "duck and cover" postion, while spining around in   
circles by kicking his legs.  
  
Ritsuko pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and quickly  
dialed NERV HQ, "I need a medical team here fast, code brown!"  
  
--END  
  
Sayonara  
[It is so] - Japanese 


End file.
